Political parties should endorse dual citizenship

2025 is a new year and it's customary to start one either with a resolution or a wish.

- Karan Thapar

I've had my fill of resolutions. I don't seem to be able to keep them beyond the first few days. So let me see how I fare with a wish.

Mine is a simple and selfish one but I'm not the only person who would benefit if it was granted. Millions of others would too. India should accept the right of its citizens to have dual nationality. After all, if someone has secured this right, by parentage or residence, why should it not be permitted?

Citizenship is not just a privilege conferred by birth. It can also be a reflection of multinational parentage as well as an expression of self-identification. For example, children of British and Indian parents have a right to be both British and Indian and it's unfair to insist that if they want to be Indian, they must forsake the right to the other citizenship. Similarly, Indians who have lived abroad and come to identify with their new country have a right to accept its citizenship without foregoing their own. As things stand, neither is permitted by Indian law.